We know from years of collective experience working with businesses of all shapes and sizes that, without a healthy culture, you have no basis for a resilient business. It is as simple as that.
An organisation’s culture is the shared assumptions, values and beliefs that determine how people behave. Any group of people who come together regularly will develop a culture – some will be positive and constructive, and some will be less so. Intentionally building a healthy culture is at the core of the adapt approach.
An organisation’s culture is created from the implicit and explicit messages received by people about how they are expected to behave to prosper in the organisation.
But how do we bring culture to life?
The importance of values
Values are at the heart of your business’s culture. And culture is something that cannot be replicated from somewhere else. If you are serious about building a sustainable business that can have a long-term impact on the world, you must pay serious attention to your culture. Well-considered and communicated values are essential.
They will help you to:
Clarify and make explicit the culture you want where everyone is aligned on what behaviours are positive and productive. The culture no longer lives simply in your head and heart but is being carried by the people around you.
Attract and retain the right people. People want to work for a business that shares their values. By promoting and prioritising values that resonate with job seekers and employees, you can attract, engage and retain talented and committed people.
Exit people from the business. Values are an invaluable tool to guide making the hard decision to get the wrong people off the bus. Highly-competent people who do not share the values of the business will be detrimental in the long run.
Guide your decision-making. In a tough spot, the values can serve as a compass for making ethical and principled decisions. For example, if your company values honesty and transparency, then financial reporting or customer communication decisions should reflect these values.
Build trust with customers. Actions around values such as customer service, quality, and reliability can establish a positive reputation and earn the loyalty of customers.
Define your unique brand identity. Your values can you to differentiate what your business does from your competitors. By promoting and living by values that align with the business's purpose and goals, your company can create an identity that resonates with customers and stakeholders.
Support your strategy. Your values should help your leadership team and your people understand the behaviour required to meet your aspirations. They must support the owner’s vision, the business purpose and the strategy for success.
Cultural Leadership Framework
Once the leadership team has defined the purpose, vision and values, they can use the cultural framework to communicate their cultural message to the whole organisation. The framework also establishes a way to manage and nurture the culture and get feedback from employees.
So having a set of values is important but it isn’t a box-ticking exercise. Your culture needs to be well communicated to connect with the organisation.
We work with the leadership team to create your values handbook, a tool used with both internal and external stakeholders to explain the agreed behaviours of the organisation. The essence of why you exist and your visions for the future. This handbook is used to recruit new employees, recruit new customers and regularly by employees to check in on whether they are aligned to the organisation and what they stand for.
Establish a framework to manage and nurture your culture
To manage and nurture a culture, adapt helps you to build a team of cultural champions and provide a network for change management. The approach adapt has established provides an eldership model for an organisation. Cultural Leaders are responsible for ensuring the purpose, vision and values are embedded and embodied throughout the organisation.
A Cultural Leader has a deep understanding and experience of the history and culture of the organisation. They play the role as current custodians of the culture.
Every member of the organisation will have a Cultural Leader. The relationship starts at recruitment where a Cultural Leader explains the culture to a potential candidate and assesses their cultural fit for the organisation. At this point the Cultural Leader is playing the role of a cultural custodian by vetting entry into the organisation.
The Cultural Leaders are storytellers, advisors and mentors. They are role model by living the values of the organisation.
The adapt approach also provides a vital role in providing a communication network for the organisation. Inputs, data and feedback from cultural conversations are part of an important feedback loop with the leadership team.
Align all people systems to your Purpose, Vision and Values
Leaders need to align their well-defined purpose, vision and values with their people systems.
- How do you recruit people who are aligned and engaged with your values?
- How do you induct new people into the organisation, so they are as engaged with the values as existing employees and customers?
- How do you continue to engage people and assess their alignment to the values? Supporting and mentoring them.
- How do you use your values to determine how much you pay people?
- How do you continue to live your values when exiting people from the organisation?
Measure and Review your Culture
Embedding a healthy culture is critical to your organisation’s success and we know there is always important ongoing work to do in this area. We encourage leadership teams to identify initiatives annually and quarterly to continue to strengthen the culture.
You do this by collecting and analysing inputs from values audits; Career Valuation data, employee surveys, leaders observations and conversations with employees.
You can access more thinking and resources behind the culture of a resilient business here:
For support using embedADAPT, please go to Platform Resources.
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